Sustainable tournament

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a novel business method comprising organizing and carrying out competition tournaments of escalating levels through eliminations, in which competitors pay membership fee and to play and participate in games of skill, recruit donors and ticket buying fans as a condition to enter the games, attract spectators by playing games publicly, and upon winning games, receive prizes per their choice from offered list of items, and cash rewards, whereas players team up forming teams and can chose between rolling forward winnings to enter the next level of games and between forfeiting their right to do that to the next to won players, whereas the organizers pay all tournament expenses, pay themselves and reward the players with the rest at every turn of the games going to the next higher level, which rewards include in part discounts from membership fees upon players rolling over winnings.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to methods to organize and run an essentially non-professional championship league with weekend's games played locally, districtwide, regionally and nationally for essentially non-cash prizes paid in part by the players via entry fee.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention addresses a need for organized essentially non-professional predominantly youth sport promotion via incentives of substantially valuable awards of goods or services (essentially non-cash prizes), which fulfills the need of the winner players per their selection chosen from a list, which may include a car (essentially tangible) to facilitate participating in championship or a college fund (essentially intangible), which allows the young player to take time to practice and play, while preparing to work by finishing studies as needed.

Players would pay to play games in a championship, which starts at the lowest local level and—through districtwide or statewide, regional and other levels—ends at national level, while sponsors donate and spectators buy tickets and memorabilia, so a large portion of the collected money can be paid off in prizes, after all expenses (gym or field rental, team clothing, taxes, etc.) paid for.

National professional sports leagues are organized and operated differently, predominantly in ways unsuitable for non-professional leagues. The joy of watching non-professionals and rewarding their best players is largely neglected today. Also the uniqueness of allowing some professionals to play with high achieving non-professionals.

The sports business is over-regulated by-and-large and the lack of innovation in methods, combined with the celebrity culture, let down non-professional sports, leaving player enthusiasm on the sidelines. Opportunities are lost to apathy. Talents are left unmotivated and uncultivated. Spectators and fans, including friends and families of the players, may go to the movies on weekends, instead of watching their cherished ones play, thrive and win games, rewards and prizes. Donors often stay away from the non-professionals and donate mostly to support and promote professional sports. Advertisers of sports related goods and services missing out on a lucrative market. That is the state-of-art today.

In general, the object of this invention to remedy this situation by proposing a viable method, which can make all interested a winner.

In particular, other specific objects are aimed herewith.

One, for instance, is to have the players pay a fee to enroll to play the games. Their payment with the additional revenues from sponsorship, ticket sales, advertisement and other promotions, would allow collecting large enough amount for paying back in form of awards and prizes (cash) to the winning teams or players.

Another one is to play 4 games on Saturdays and 3 games on consecutive Sundays. For instance, 8 teams plays 4 kickoff games on Saturday, and the 4 winners of that Saturday games will play 2 semifinal games on Sunday (say in the morning hours), while the winners of that semifinals play the final game on the same day (say late afternoon).

Yet another one is to pay only the winning team, which may choose to roll forward his winning to pay for the next level games enrollment (entry) fees or quit otherwise, forfeiting their right to go forward and enter the next higher level games. Thus, winners of any games can stop paying entry fees, until they keep winning, while their prize grows in size exponentially (as per the binomial rules). Keep paying for the chance of winning more-and-more, level-after-level is incentivized by the higher-and-higher chance to win the larger-and-larger prizes, competing against the smaller-and-smaller number of teams as the championship progresses towards the national finals.

Yet another one is to avoid cash payoffs for under 18 years players in large extent by letting the players choose from a list of offered rewards, which may include tangible goods and intangible services to the benefit of the winning players. Cash prizes may be reserved for winners and awards for consolations, if any, and the winnings may be paid off to teams or players.

Yet another one is to let the winning team decide if they wish to go ahead and compete on higher level or forfeit that earned right to the team, whom they just have beaten.

Yet another one is to cover all viable athletic sports, such as basketball, football, volleyball, hockey and such, which may attract large number of spectators, donors and service providers beyond friends and families. Yet, not to exclude other sports, including individual competitors, which may attract TV viewers or online monitoring crowd.

Yet another one is to require membership fee payments from players and give them credit from it to incentivize rolling forward their winning to the next level of games, rather than stop playing halfway up.

Yet another one is to allow for some professional players to play with the best of the non-professionals at higher level games of the tournaments. That shall attract more spectators.

Yet another one is to let free agents or even the players participate in games scheduling to accommodate player's constraints regarding time and locality.

Finally, the one is to allow the business owners of the league to gain deserved profit through organizing championship services and promoting non-professional athlete sports as alternative to recreational drug use and wasting talents by non-achieving or destructive activities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above problems and others are at least partially solved and the above objects and others realized in a process, which according to the teachings of this invention, uses a business method consisting at least the following stepwise executable procedures to organize a Tournament:

-   -   1. Team owners announce the next-coming Local Championship         Games (i) to be played on Saturdays and consecutive Sundays;     -   2. Teams sign up by paying equal amount of Entry Fees collected         from all of their players and their assistants, which may         include one coach and an optional service personnel or reserve         player, all which for short, will be called players herewith,         while teams may be required to recruit at least one sponsor and         two ticket buying fans per players and to keep their membership         current;     -   3. Games played through elimination in the following three         Steps: I) 8 teams play Saturday the 4 Kickoff Games, then II)         the 4 winners of the Kickoff Games play the two Semifinal Games         on Early Sunday, and III) the winners of the Semifinals play the         Finals Game Late Sunday;     -   4. Team owners collect entry fees, which is called for short         herewith Player Contributions (a), donations, sponsors         contributions, membership fees, revenues from ticket sales,         vending services and advertisements, all for short herewith is         called Sponsor Contributions (b), and split the Total Revenue to         three parts as: A) Expenses, which includes, at least, sport         facility rental fees, insurances, legal fees, salaries and         taxes), B) Rewards, which may include tangibles and intangibles         to be paid to the winner teams upon winning, which may be in         cash, and rewards, as a portion of the assigned value of the         prize, which can be picked by the winners by selecting rewards         from a list, posted by sponsors and advertisers, and C) earned         Profits, which may be distributed or invested to the discretion         of the owners and their shareholders, if any;     -   5. Team owners pay off the Rewards in two optional ways: aa)         right upon any game won to the winning team, in which case, the         winning team may roll over part of its winning to pay the higher         Entry Fee for the next game, or bb) only at the end of the         Finals to the single winner, preferably at a ceremony, in which         case nothing to roll over, thus the teams pay Entry Fees to keep         playing and the single winner “takes all”;     -   6. Team owners announce the next-coming District Championship         Games (ii) to be played on Saturdays and consecutive Sundays         following the week of the previous Local Championship Games;     -   7. Repeat Steps 2-5;     -   8. Team owners announce the next-coming Regional Championship         Games (iii) to be played on Saturdays and consecutive Sundays         following the week of the previous District Championship Games;     -   9. Repeat Steps 2-5;     -   10. Team owners announce the next-coming National Championship         Games (iv) to be played on Saturdays and consecutive Sundays         following the week of the previous Regional Championship Games;     -   11. Team owners announce the closing of the Championship Season         and announce the opening date of the next-coming one.

Competing team sports, including basketball, football, hand ball, racket ball, beach ball, hockey and such qualify for this method.

The number of teams and games are exemplary only. For the sake of demonstrating exemplary revenue stream, 8-player teams are assumed here.

The described games are per gyms or fields or facilities, hereinafter commonly called as Gyms. Eight Gyms are expected to participate in a Tournament.

The total number of players in a national tournament is 8×8×4=256 (8 players/teams, 8 teams/games, and 4 levels/games). The total number of games in that tournament is (4+2+1)×4=28 (4 Kickoff, 2 Semifinals, 1 Final, and 4 levels). A national tournament would be played over four weakens (in about a month). It would require four locations, each of which would have one gym or field to be rented.

Should eight of these national tournaments played concurrently, the winners of these can play in a Super Tournament in the same way, which would multiple the above numbers by eight (8×256=2,048 players, 8×28=224 games, 8×4=32 weekends (8 months max.), and 8×4=32 locations.

If the Entry Fee is $200 per Players, in an eight sports Super Tournament, the minimum revenues would be $ 6,533,600, half of which, $3,276,800 would be awarded to the players.

The one weekend tournament is exemplary. Kickoff games can be played in one weekend (Saturday or Sunday) and the Semifinals on the next Saturday and the Finals on Sunday on the same or the next week. Circumstances may dictate to have other scheduling.

The games are not “Fantasy Sports” per say and do not involve betting on the outcome of the games. The league simply accommodates games of skills. Only players, sponsors and spectators pay for it, and only players can win prizes of essentially non-cash tangibles or intangibles, useful for the winners, chosen by them exclusively. Thus this kind of Tournament is legal in the USA, Canada and elsewhere, virtually worldwide. However, some states require above 18 years age limit for the players and may limit the size of the donations. Other restrictions may also apply.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary games flowchart.

FIG. 2A is an exemplary games revenue chart.

FIG. 2B is another exemplary games revenue chart.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary business method operations diagram.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Attention is now turned to FIG. 1, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention by an exemplary games flowchart, illustrating one Local Championship Game/Tournament 1, played in Gym/Field/Court 1 (large encompassing dotted line frame).

The Sunday Games (Kickoff) are played by eight teams of eight players paired up to yield four winners (illustrated in the first dotted enclosed bracket with dotted line losers and full line winners.

The Sunday Games are played by the four winners of the Saturday games paired up to yield two winners (Semifinals), who play the Finals, yielding to ne winner, the winner of the Championship. Heavy arrows follow the successive winning history.

The Champion (the ultimate winner team, Team 3 here) receives its reward in a ceremony on the same Sunday, right upon winning the last game.

In the next coming two figures, this same example is illustrated further with two ways of money flows marked up.

Attention is now turned to FIG. 2A, which illustrates the money flow of FIG. 1, in case winning is allowed to roll forward to pay for the next games Entry Fee (aa).

Each player pays $200 Entry Fee. The eight Players thus pay $1,600 for the Team entry. That adds up to 12,800 for the eight Teams playing the Kickoff on Saturday.

For simplicity, now we assume that others (sponsors, spectators, advertisers, vendors and more) also pay the same amount, and that is dedicated to cover the expenses (gym rental, services, taxes and more) and the remainder is the league owner's profit. Players and Sponsors Contributions are shown at the top and the bottom thereof respectively.

Half of all revenues, say the upper half, which was played by the team players, $12,800 is payed back to the winners of the Kickoff games. Divided that to four equal amount yields to $3,200. That much is paid to each of the winners of the Semifinals, while the remaining $6,400 rolls over to be paid to the winner of the finals.

To keep playing, now the teams must pay the next round of Entry Fee of $1,600 per Teams. Money paid to the Teams is sown with plus sign, while money received by them with minus sign. The Sunday Semifinal and Final games thus collect $9,600 from the Players, and that much is now left to pay to the Champion on the same Sunday in an Award Ceremony.

This way, only winners get rewarded and the rewards are in proportion to the success of the teams. That success is measured and defined solely by the winnings of the games, and not by chance, but rather by effort and skill.

One may notice that for the winners of the Semifinals, keeping to play did not cost more, since they could pay the Entry fee from their winning (reward). Also that the Champion Team won 6× more than paid for playing and all (100%) of the money collected from the players were paid back to their best players, 43% of which was paid to the Champion Team, 29% to the Semifinalists and 28% made up the rollover.

Attention is now turned to FIG. 2B, which illustrates the money flow of FIG. 1, in case winning is not allowed to roll forward to pay for the next games Entry Fee (bb).

The money flow is now similar, however in this case the winner takes all. The Champion Team is awarded with $ 22,400, which is 100% of what the players paid in Entry Fees to play the games. That is 2.33× larger sum than the winning of the rollover case (aa) but only 4.66× more than what that team paid for it ($4,800).

Both payoff methods have merits, advantages and disadvantages, and thus, the Teams may choose which way they wish to compete. Other payoff schemes with different proportionalities may also be practical. The presented ones (aa and bb) are the simplest of all and the easiest to memorize by all players, sponsors and spectators.

The exemplary equal Players Contribution and Sponsors Contribution is a conservative assumption. Sponsors Contribution can way surpass Players Contribution, especially at higher-and-higher level of games. The league owners may pay in rewards to the winners much more thereof. Yet, the presented example illustrate, that by conservative estimates, the proposed scheme is self-supportive and profitable.

Attention is finally turned to FIG. 3, which an exemplary business method operations diagram of the ACL Tournament.

The process starts with the League Announcing the Tournament and ends with Closing. Some steps between these may shift up or down if needed. The steps are as follows:

-   -   1) League Rents Gym(s)/Field(s)/Courts     -   2) League Organizes Games     -   3) League Collects Players Contributions     -   4) League Collects Sponsors Contributions     -   5) Teams Compete in Elimination Games     -   6) League Services Games     -   7) League Offer(s) Reward(s) to Winner Team(s)     -   8) Winner Team(s) Chose(s) Award(s)     -   9) League Award(s) Winner Team(s)     -   10) If not final game, go to 5     -   11) League Pays Expenses and Reserves Profit

This process can be followed in each competitive sports, whereas games and tournaments can be played concurrently in multiple gyms and locations on every level specified herewith.

The present invention is described above with reference to a preferred embodiment. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications may be made in the described embodiment without departing from the nature and scope of the present invention. For instance, applying the business method specified here to non-athletic sports, such as chess and video gaming, which may be individual or team sports or competitions, is considered intuitive and hereby instructive, thus be within the scope of this invention. The national level may not be the final one. It may be extended to international level. That would also be within the scope. Eating, drinking, arts and fights and such, as well as unethical or illegal competitions however are not intended to be covered here.

Various further changes and modifications to the embodiment herein chosen for purposes of illustration will readily occur to those skilled in the art. To the extent that such modifications and variations do not depart from the spirit of the invention, they are intended to be included within the scope thereof.

Having fully described the invention in such clear and concise terms as to enable those skilled in the art to understand and practice the same, the invention claimed is: 

1. Business method comprising organizing and carrying out competition tournaments of escalating levels through eliminations, in which competitors pay membership fee and to play and participate in games of skill, recruit donors and ticket buying fans as a condition to enter the games, attract spectators by playing games publicly, and upon winning games, receive prizes per their choice from offered list of items, and cash rewards, whereas players team up forming teams and can chose between rolling forward winnings to enter the next level of games and between forfeiting their right to do that to the next to won players, whereas the organizers pay all tournament expenses, pay themselves and reward the players with the rest at every turn of the games going to the next higher level, which rewards include in part discounts from membership fees upon players rolling over winnings.
 2. Method as per claim 1, whereas said games are at least one of the following kind: a) athletics, b) games of talents, c) handicaps, d) amateurs, e) nonprofessionals, f) professionals, g) youth of 18 years maximum age, and h) adults of 18 years of minimum age.
 3. Method as per claim 1, whereas said players and teams chose from offered games to play and suggest the organizers games to play.
 4. Method as per claim 1, whereas said awards are only paid to the winner of the tournament.
 3. Method as per claim 1, whereas said prizes are only awarded to the youth players.
 3. Method as per claim 1, whereas said prizes are only awarded as consolations.
 4. Method as per claim 1, whereas said prizes and awards are granted for winners of games at any level of said tournament.
 5. Method as per claim 1, whereas said games are played only at weekends.
 6. Method as per claim 1, whereas said levels of games include local, regional, statewide, national and international levels, whereas such levels are not carried out mandated.
 7. Method as per claim 1, whereas said entry fees are higher at higher levels of said tournament.
 8. Method as per claim 1, whereas winners of one said tournament play said elimination games in tournament of tournaments.
 9. Method as per claim 1, whereas losers of said games play said elimination games in tournaments of handicapped. 